Chris Horsman has paid tribute to stricken fly-half Lewis Barker after the youngster was ruled out for up to nine months with a serious knee injury.

Barker was forced off in the 22-15 win at Newbridge in RGC’s last encounter and scans this week showed the fly-half had completely ruptured his ACL and MCL.

He will be replaced by Rhodri Carlton Jones in the starting line-up today, with Horsman showing a level of support for his young charge, while also backing the more senior Carlton Jones to step up to the mark.

“Absolutely gutted for him,” said the former Wales prop. “Lewis has done his ACL so he is going to be out for six to eight months and I can’t personally put into words how gutted I am for him.

“He is a fantastic player, but he is just a brilliant bloke and a real heartbeat of this team. We are lucky that Rhodri Carlton Jones can come in, both of them have been having a real shoot-out for that jersey, but just on a personal note, I feel devastated for Lewis.

“Rhods will start and we are not weakened by any stretch of the imagination, the two have been battling for that shirt and Rhods has got that opportunity now to have that shirt for the rest of the season.”

Carlton Jones’ elevation from the bench is one of a few changes to the RGC side to face third-placed Tata Steel at Parc Eirias this afternoon.

Olly Cracknell suffered a concussion playing for Wales under-20s last Friday night in their win over Scotland, and will be replaced by Bryn Williams, while Joe Jones starts in the front row in place of Joe Simpson, who drops to the bench.

Today’s game is the start of their final eight fixtures for RGC as they look to close out their debut campaign in the Championship.

Defending champions Ebbw Vale – gunning for their fourth straight title – have already seemingly wrapped up top spot, currently sitting 30 points clear of second-placed RGC, but the North Wales side are setting their sights at finishing ‘the best of the rest’.

And that challenge starts today with the visit of third-placed Tata Steel, who are two points behind RGC but have played two games more.

Horsman is relishing the chance to pit his side against Tata, believing the first fixture between the sides in South Wales back in October – RGC ran out 22-6 winners – was a watershed moment for his outfit.

“It was sort of like a turning point for us earlier on in the season,” added Horsman. “We went into that game with probably as many senior players as we’ve ever had missing, and a year before we played them in a pre-season friendly and had 50 points put on us.

“It was quite nice for the players to go down there a year later and to win three tries to nil, so it was a bit of a defining moment for us this year, and it has shown the players how far they have come on in a very short space of time.

“Recently we have started to reap the rewards of our principles. Last year we were beating teams quite comfortably, but this year we haven’t changed anything; we knew there would be a little bit of an adjustment time, but we knew once the players had matured that what we were doing would work and it has been proven by sitting second in the table, so it is a reward to the players for sticking to what we do.

“They are two points behind us, but have played two games more, so it is not a winner-takes-all kind of game, and we know they are going into the game with a lot of confidence, but we are as well.

“We go into the game with a lot of confidence and we can’t shy away from being confident and being second in the league. The days of North Wales rugby being embarrassed by any sort of success and almost shying away from it, we have got to embrace it. It is not an arrogance, but let’s enjoy the pressure because it is part of the development process and being a team that people want to beat, so we are definitely enjoying it.”